


Together We Sink

by xanavici



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, alcohol mention, good old man tears, i dont do unhappy endings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 03:34:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8516956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanavici/pseuds/xanavici
Summary: When Hanzo is catpured by Talon during a mission, how far is Jesse willing to go to get him back.





	1. Chapter 1

Jesse McCree sits on the hard metal seat of the jump ship.  Shock prevents him from feeling the cold seeping into his skin. 

 _Where did it go wrong_ is the only thought running through his head.  He can’t bring himself to focus his eyes so Jesse just stares blankly at nothing.  _Where did it all go wrong?_

In the very corner of his eye Jesse sees Angela sit down next to him.  She gently picks up his right arm and starts cleaning a deep cut.  He barely registers the sting of antiseptic or the pressure of the bandages being wrapped around his forearm.  Angela gives his hand a small squeeze as she finished up and returns to her previous seat on the jump ship.  Nobody says a word, even chatty Hana is silent.  That’s what generally happens when you lose a team member. 

The jump ship hits a spot of turbulence and Lena mutters out an apology.  The jolt of motion snaps Jesse out of his trance.  _Where did it go wrong?_ That question still occupies the front of his mind but not his whole mind now. 

 _Think Jesse, think.  Where did it go wrong?_ Jesse thinks back to five days ago when the mission was first assigned. 

It was supposed to be simple.  Get into Ilios, get the payload, get out.  Winston said that there had been no reports of Omnics, the Vishkar Company, or Talon in the area so it was supposed to be low risk.  Nothing like this was supposed to happen.  A six man team would go in for 5 days to get the job done before heading back to Gibraltar.  Angela, Lena, Jesse, Hana, Jack, and Hanzo packed up the next day and left for the drop point. 

A short, six hour ride in the jump ship and they had reached the safe house a couple miles outside of the city limits.  They spent the next four hours bringing in supplies, setting up a perimeter, and getting surveillance ready for the next day.  They had run plenty of missions like this in the past and as a result, nervousness had no place in the safe house.  The team worked together seamlessly and cracked jokes with each other. 

Jesse continued his relentless flirting with Hanzo despite the fact that the two had been dating for months at this point.  Jesse didn’t care though.  Every time he looked at the archer his heart skipped a beat and he cracked a smile.  He took every moment he could to remind Hanzo how he felt.  Hanzo usually didn’t mind anymore but he believed that there was a time and a place for everything.  And he was still kind of getting used to being so open with his relationship with the cowboy.  At first he protested (weakly) and asked Jesse to save it for when they got back to the Watchpoint, but it didn’t take much to silence his protests.  By the time the team had everything set up it was very late so they all got some rest so they could start recon tomorrow.  Jesse pulled his sleeping bag next to Hanzo’s and settled down next to the shorter man.  He always slept a little better when Hanzo was nearby, and although Hanzo wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, he did as well.  Athena watched over all of them as they slept, spread out across the safe house. 

For the next three days the six heroes did surveillance of the area and performed recon to confirm Winston’s report that the ancient city wasn’t hiding any unexpected guests.  They confirmed that there were no surprises and that the city was quiet.  Almost too quiet Hanzo thought but Jesse reminded him that it mission was supposed to be easy. 

 _That was where is went wrong_ thought Jesse as he remembered those calm days.

The reports were so calm that the cowboy managed to convince his boyfriend to go on a date with him on the last afternoon of surveillance.

“C’mon Darlin’, we’re only gonna to be in this beautiful city for one more day, who knows when we’ll be back.  ‘Sides, we haven’t been on a proper date in weeks.”

“You forget that we are here for a specific purpose.  We have a job to complete and we need to be focused on that.”

“And the job’s almost done.  We move the payload out tomorrow, there’s been no enemies here in the city, and we already got plans in place in case any do show up.  So why dont’cha indulge a smitten cowboy with a night out.”  Jesse must have said something right because the archer relented and agreed to go out, as long as they went undercover and didn’t spend too much time out. 

The archer and the cowboy ended up walking around the city on the cobblestone streets, arms wrapped around each other as they took in the sights and traded kisses.  The two eventually found a small café to eat an early dinner at and talked while they ate.  Well, Jesse mostly talked while Hanzo listened to his honey-laced voice.  The sun had long since set and the city lights softly illuminated the streets when Hanzo declared that it was time to go.  Jesse managed to pick up on the undertones in his voice that told him that Hanzo really did not want the night to end quite yet, so he managed to conveniently “get lost” in the winding streets and extend their walk back to the safe house.

That night the two fell asleep with their fingers intertwined and a permanent smile etched onto Jesse’s face.

That permanent smile ended up lasting less than 24 hours because that’s when everything went to shit. 

Jesse’s head falls into his hands as the memories became too hard to recall.  He doesn’t want to remember the shit show that all of them had just went through.  As his hands slide through his hair to the back of his neck he realizes he had lost his hat. 

 _How had his life gone from everything he ever wanted to losing two of the most important things he had?_  

At least he still has Peacekeeper, oh wait, that got damaged in the fight when a Talon agent got a lucky shot and rendered it unusable.  With that tears started falling out of his closed eyes.  At first, slowly and quietly, but quickly the heartbroken cowboy falls apart and becomes a blubbering mess.  Lena is the first one to wrap her arms around him, blinking from the cockpit to the cargo bay after setting the jump ship on autopilot.  Hana is next, shedding tears of her own.  She and Hanzo had gotten closer as he was teaching her archery on their days off.  Angela and Jack both lay hands on Jesse and offer what little comfort they can.  They all stay like that until gentle beeps from Athena inform them that the ship had entered Watchpoint airspace.  Lena gently extracts herself and flies the ship down into the hangar. 

All of the other Overwatch agents stand in the hangar waiting for them.  They had heard that something had gone wrong with the mission but they didn’t know what until only five people step off the plane.  Everyone is too stunned to say anything or move.  They couldn’t believe that the great dragon warrior and master archer didn’t make it back.  Genji is the first to leave the hangar, not wanting to face the fact that he had lost his brother again.  Zenyatta follows him to offer comfort to his student.  Jesse had stopped crying but only because he could not produce anymore tears.  He stands at the end of the ship’s ramp, an empty husk too tired and drained to move another step.  Angela and Fareeha take his arms and gently guides him towards his room.  Angela tells Winston that they will debrief tomorrow and asks Lúcio to grab some sleeping pills from the med-bay.

The walk to his room is shorter than Jesse remembers, or maybe he’s just spacing out too much to remember the walk, but sooner than later he’s standing in front of the door unsure of what to do next until he remembers to punch in the code for the door.  It takes a couple tries before the door opens and the pair step inside.  Fareeha helps takes off his serape and chest plate , Angela takes care of his boots, and Jesse works on his belt and chaps. 

Lúcio arrives with two small pills in his hand shortly after Jesse finishes taking off his extra gear.  A quick swig of water helps the pills go down before a sheet is being pulled over him.  The pills work quickly, but not quickly enough for Jesse to notice that the small bed feels too big and cold without Hanzo next to him.

* * *

 

When Jesse wakes up the next morning there’s a few blissful moments where he doesn’t remember the previous day.  Of course that changes when he rolls over and reaches his arm out, searching for Hanzo to pull him closer.  When his hand can’t find his boyfriend, the memories of yesterday come crashing back down on him.  Jesse snaps up, chest tight and heart beating too fast.  He rolls off the bed and scrambles over to where his gear was folded up last night to find Peacekeeper.  Even if the weapon is no more useful than a piece of scrap metal at the moment, the familiar shape and weight in his hand is comforting.  When his breathing slows down again, Jesse relaxes his grip on the gun and lets blood flow back into his hand.  Unfortunately, the comfort of Peacekeeper does nothing to help the hole in his heart that started growing as soon as he was dragged onto the jump ship. 

The team still needs to debrief with Winston so Jesse gets up to find some clean clothes that don’t smell like a firefight.  Jesse knows this will probably make him feel worse but he doesn’t care as he slips on one of his cheesy country music shirts that Hanzo wore last.  He pulls on some sweatpants and heads out to the mess hall, led by his growling stomach. 

It’s a little late for breakfast when Jesse gets to the mess hall so there are only a couple people milling around when he walks in.  Hana and Lúcio are sitting at one table talking about his newest album, trying to keep the tone light but it’s an empty conversion.  Satya is sitting at another table starting at her laptop, hands hovering over the keys but not moving which is unusual for her.  Even the boisterous Reinhardt is quiet as he cooks in the kitchen.  Looks like he knew Jesse would be getting up late.  Jesse slides onto a bar stool at the counter in front of the kitchen and Reinhardt sets a plate of food and a cup of coffee in front of him.  Jesse pulls a small flask out of the pocket of his sweatpants and drains the whiskey inside into the coffee. 

“I’m sorry, Jesse,” says Reinhardt softly before turning around to start cleaning up the mess from cooking for eighteen people. “Debriefing is in thirty minutes, by the way,” he says over his shoulder.

Jesse says nothing in response, instead opting to nibble on the toast and eggs that makes up his breakfast.  Thirty-five minutes later he stands up and drops his plate into the sink before walking to the conference room where the debriefing is.  He’s the last to walk into in room and Winston has already started so Jesse sinks into a chair in the back of the room next to Ana.  The buzz he has going from the alcohol makes him zone out for most of the meeting until Ana nudges him with her foot.  Winston had been trying to get his attention.

“Agent McCree, I know this is hard, but you were the closest when it happened.  I need you to tell me how Agent Hanzo was captured,” says Winston.

Jesse clears his throat a couple times, before standing up.  Not trusting his voice not to crack he starts slowly.

“Uh, it was thirteen-hundred-hours when the team entered the city.  Agents Hana, Jack, and myself were on the ground with Doctor Zeigler right behind us watching our backs and Agent Ha-,” Jesse stops before his voice cracks.  He takes a breath before continuing.  

“Agent Hanzo was on the roofs scanning ahead.  We reached the payload in ‘bout twenty minutes which is when Doctor Zeigler called Agent Oxton to bring the jump ship.  But before the ship arrived, Talon agents surprised us.  We’re still unsure of where they came from as all surveillance told us that there was no activity in the area.  Agents Hanzo, Hana, and I engaged the enemy while Soldier:76 defended the payload; Agent Oxton arrived shortly after and joined the fight.  It seemed to be going our way for a bit there, but then a second wave of Talon agents arrived and started to overtake us.  Doctor Zeigler order a retreat and all of us started runnin’ back to the jump ship.  Durin’ that time someone managed to damage my weapon, makin’ it useless.”

“We have unconfirmed reports that it was the sniper known as Widowmaker that took out Jesse’s gun,” interjected Lena, “I’m still reviewing footage from yesterday to see if that’s true.”

Eyes turn back to Jesse to finish the report and he wishes he had another shot of whiskey to knock back.  He also wishes to be back in his room, asleep, pretending that all of this never happened.

“That’s when everything went to hell in a handbasket.  An explosion came from the building behind me, the building Agent Hanzo was on.  When I turned around, Talon agents had already surrounded him.  I threw my last two flashbangs but it wasn’t enough and-” Jesse stops, a sudden realization hitting him. “-and it’s all my fault.  I couldn’t save him.” he adds with barely a whisper.

Jesse falls back into his chair and drops his head into his hands.  The room becomes silent, everyone shocked by the usually happy cowboy’s look of defeat.  Ana is the only one to move.  She places a comforting hand on Jesse’s back, trying to communicate that, as someone who has lost so much on the battlefield, she understands his pain.

“That’s, uh, enough for today,” says Winston, quietly before gathering up the mission reports and other papers scattered in front of him.  Everyone files out of the conference room, leaving Jesse and one of his former mentors sitting alone.

Jesse wondered how he was ever going to be okay again without Hanzo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is consistent chapter length you ask. I don't know I say as I give you this.

The cold splash of water quickly wakes Hanzo up.  The freezing water hits his face and completely bare chest causing his already aching muscles to tighten up and increase the pain he was in.  After the water clears out of his eyes Hanzo scans the nine-by-nine room he is being held in.  His arms are still chained together and pulled above him, suspending him as his metal feet scrap the ground.  The prosthetic on his right leg sparks worryingly and he knows it won’t last very long if he tries to run on it.  Next to one of the walls is a table covered with unused tools made specifically for pain that has been taunting him ever since he was brought in here.  Hanzo recognizes some of the less savory metal instruments from his days in the family business.  Three Talon agents stand in front of him, one holding an empty bucket, looking at him with malicious expressions.

For the past three days Hanzo’s life has been a cycle of mental and physical torture.  Talon wants information about the new Overwatch and they won’t stop until they get something out of the archer.    Unfortunately for them, Hanzo was a former assassin for the Yakuza, and he learned how to take as much pain as he dealt out.  He barely feels the punches and cuts as he makes his mind focus on more important things, like exactly how he is going to kill every last Talon operative in this base and how he is going to escape.

Talon must have decided that their current beatings weren’t working, because one of the agents drags the table over from the wall.  Hanzo feels his heart rate reflexively increase for a second before forcing it back down with steady breaths.  He knows exactly what’s going to happen next so he has no reason to be afraid.  Apprehensive and dreading the agent’s next actions, but not afraid.  A woman makes a big show of picking a particularly wicked looking knife and taunting Hanzo with it. 

“One last chance,” she says, “tell us what we want to know and I won’t have to use this on you.”

Hanzo only sets his gaze and stares her down.  His stare, which can break the spirits of the strongest people, startles her and causes her to take a step back.  Hanzo thinks he might end this torture session early until an unexpected blow to his kidneys from the back causes him to cry out and lose whatever control he had.  The pain of the knife being shoved into the muscles in his shoulder causes him to cry out again.

The blows and cuts only stop when the black-clad agents try to break his spirit by mocking Hanzo and telling him that no one is coming for him.   He knows that is probably true but he can’t let that get to him.  He still has a small sliver of hope that McCree, or anyone, will come for him and he refuses to let go of that hope. 

The beatings start back up as quickly as they stopped.  Hanzo reduces his cries of pain to small grunts just to keep the satisfaction from his torturers.  The Talon agents increase their efforts in response and before long Hanzo passes out from the pain again. 

A memory plays through Hanzo’s mind while he’s unconscious.  It’s the last morning him and Jesse spent together in Gibraltar.

_Hanzo is woken up by a small beam of sunlight hitting his face that sneaked through the cracked curtains on the other side of the room.  He winces and tries to close his eyes tighter, his body telling him that it is too early to be awake.  Grumbling, the archer frees his arms from the grasp of the warm body behind him and turns over so he is facing Jesse’s bare chest instead of the rising sun.  They’re both still naked from the night before.  The movement stirs Jesse and he wraps his arms around the smaller man again, pulling him in closer to his chest.  Hanzo takes a deep breath before falling back asleep again.  The smell of cigars and desert winds that somehow always cling to Jesse, no matter where they are, ease his heartrate and breathing down, his mind already drifting off._

_He hears a content sigh escapes Jesse’s lips before he’s burying his face in Hanzo’s silky, black hair.  The tender movement keeps Hanzo from falling asleep completely.  He’s woken back up what seems like a couple moments later when his boyfriend starts kissing his head and the hand that was gripping Jesse’s bicep.  Hanzo is most definitely_ not _a morning person but he doesn’t mind getting woken up like this.  Although he still wouldn’t mind a cup of tea before he’s forced to hold any real conversations.  A couple more kisses later and he finally opens his eyes, blinking away the last remains of sleep.  He looks up and sees Jesse smiling down at him._

_“Mornin’ Darlin’,” whispers Jesse, not wanting to break the calm of the morning.  Hanzo gives a soft grunt in response.  They don’t often get quiet moments like this so both men try to make it last for as long as possible.  Jesse resumes his feather light kisses across Hanzo’s face and neck while Hanzo runs his hands over Jesse’s upper body, re-memorizing every dip, curve, and scar that marks his body._

_They do this until the alarm next to the bed goes off.  Jesse reaches over Hanzo and turns the alarm off before returning to his original position and giving Hanzo a long kiss on the lips he had been avoiding up until now.  Hanzo whines a little when Jesse pulls away and Jesse chuckles.  A low, deep rumble that shakes Hanzo to his core, filling him with energy._

‘So this is what home feels like’, _thinks Hanzo absentmindedly.  This revelation brings another thought to his mind, one that closes up his throat and grips him a fear.  He pulls Jesse, who was climbing over him to get out of bed, down on top of him for another long kiss before opening his mouth and forcing his sleep laden voice to cooperate._

_“Jesse?”_

_“Yes, Darlin’?”_

_“Promise me one thing.  Promise me you will never leave me.”  Hanzo states this as a demand, not allowing the cowboy to refuse his request._

_“Only if ya promise me the same thing,” replies Jesse with a smile playing on his lips._

_Hanzo only replies with another kiss, his answer obvious._

Another cold bucket of water pulls Hanzo from his memory.  He gasps from the shock and coughs out the water that made it into his lungs.  The water stings in his new cuts and he grounds out another grunt of pain.  Hanzo focuses his eyes and sees three new Talon agents standing in front of him.

“I don’t know whether to be impressed or to feel sorry for you,” said one of the agents, “You’ve managed to withstand some of our best interrogators and give up nothing about your precious Overwatch.”

“Some-of-your-best needs work,” Hanzo bit out, his vocal cords scraping against each other under the strain of speaking for the first time in days.

“Ah, so he can speak.  That would’ve been awkward if we did all that work for nothing.”

The guards laughed like the past three days were a simple misunderstanding and not literal hell for Hanzo.

“Anyways, because of your stubborn resilience to answer our questions, we got orders from up high to transfer you to a more secure location at the end of the week so The Reaper himself can have some fun with you.”

Hanzo stills at the sound of that news.  He had seen the wake of Reaper’s destruction on the battlefield plenty of times.  It was not a pretty sight.

“But until then, he wants you to be able to survive his questions so you get a couple days off to recover and think about what you want to say,” says the guard with an unhappy look on his face.  He motions at the other two agents in the room and they move towards Hanzo.  The archer lets out an unexpected cry of pain when the strain on his arms is released and they fall down to his side.  Hanzo can’t catch himself fast enough and his legs give out under him.  The agents pick him up from his sprawled out position on the floor and start dragging him out of the room by his arms.  His legs drag uselessly behind him and his head hangs low, neck too tired to lift it up.  Hanzo vaguely registers travelling down a hallway and passing by doors with sounds of pain coming from behind them.  He screws his eyes shut and tries to focus on not letting his shoulders get dislocated. 

He opens his eyes again when his knees roughly pass over the threshold of a door and he sees a large room filled with cells.  Most are empty, but a couple have people in them.  Hanzo gets roughly thrown into one and he lies on the floor, taking shallow breaths, waiting for some of the pain to recede.  When it no longer hurts to breath, he drags himself to the back of the cell and props himself up against the hard, metal bars. The action hurts more than it should and Hanzo suspects he has a couple of broken ribs.  His shoulders and wrists ache from being suspended by them for so long.  His deepest cuts are still bleeding and his left cheek has swelled up so much he can barely see out of the eye on that side.  And his damaged leg has started to occasionally twitch erratically.  All in all it could have been worse and Hanzo Shimada is nothing but resilient.  Deep inside, he feels the dragons stir and is comforted by their presence, even if he is too hurt to call them out.

Hanzo thinks about how all it took to get him here was a well-placed explosion to disorient him and damage the prosthetics on his right leg, a sniper to take out his backup, Jesse, and one last squad of agents to pull him away from the team.  With the cells on either side of him empty and the guards on the far sides of the room, Hanzo feels alone enough to finally let some emotion crack through the mask he wears.  Tears start silently falling down his face as he thinks of the promise he made Jesse that morning and how he is probably going to end up breaking it.


	3. Chapter 3

Life is hell for Jesse.  After sleeping alone in his room that first night, Jesse moves into Hanzo’s room.  The two always shared Jesse’s room when both of them were at headquarters but when it was just Jesse away on a mission, Hanzo slept in his own room.  It still smells like him from the last time he was in there and it makes Jesse feel a little better but it isn’t enough to make him forget everything that happened. 

He spends his days alternating between sleeping, eating, and repairing his gun.  It’s mind numbing enough to keep him from having to think about anything but keeps his hands occupied enough to keep him from completely losing his sanity, or what’s left of it anyways. 

When the other Overwatch agents aren’t busy with missions, they all try to help Jesse in their own ways, but he is too shut down for it to do any good.  After losing Ana, then Gabe and Jack, Jesse promised himself that he would never let anyone get close enough to hurt him again.  But then Hanzo showed up in his life, and Ana and Jack and even Gabe had all come back, and Jesse slowly forgot about the promise he made.  He had let the archer sneak into his heart and break down his walls and now he is paying the price.  Jesse wants to be mad at someone -himself, Hanzo, Talon- for making him feel this way again but being angry means letting all of the other emotions he’s being holding at bay come crashing in and he just can’t handle that right now. 

On the third day of his heartbreak, Jesse is in Hanzo’s room polishing Peacekeeper (now that it was finally fixed) when he hears footsteps running down the hall.  Curious for the first time in days, he opens his door and sees Lena, Genji, and Lucio disappear around the corner.  Their urgency and lack of chatter makes him assume something is going on.  The cowboy throws on one of Hanzo’s sweatshirts and tracks down the speedy trio.  He finds them, as well as almost everyone else, in the conference room.  Genji is yelling at Winston and Jack for some reason and the rest of the room is talking loudly, all wondering why they were called here unexpectedly.  Jesse wonders why he wasn’t called in as well until he looks down at his communicator and sees a missed alert from Athena from a couple minutes ago.  It had blended in with the other twelve missed alerts he had ignored over the past couple days.  Feeling a headache coming on, Jesse sits in a chair in the back corner and wishes he had grabbed the bottle of whiskey he had been steadily draining.  He’s already here so he might as well listen to what ever news there is.

Winston finally gets Jack and Genji to sit down and starts the meeting.

“I know you all are wondering why you are here so I’ll skip any formalities and jump right into it.  Two hours ago Athena intercepted some encrypted transmissions that appear to have originated from Talon.  Fifteen minutes ago she finished decrypting them.”

Jesse jerks his head up at the mention of Talon and starts paying attention.  The heat of anger starts growing inside him but he’s too distracted to push it down. 

“The transmissions mentioned two things: an attack on King’s Row tomorrow and the transfer of a high level prisoner at the end of the week.”

Hanzo.  Jesse’s breath catches in his throat and he stands up fast enough to knock his chair over.  The noise causes everyone to look at him but he continues to stare down Winston, silently urging the scientist to continue.

“Yes McCree,” Winston says carefully, “We do believe they are referring to Agent Hanzo.”

Jesse starts breathing again and feels alive for the first time since his partner was taken.  A transfer means that Hanzo is still alive.  It means that Jesse can get him back.  The gunslinger quietly rights his chair and sits back down, absorbing the new information.

“Unfortunately we have no idea where these messages originated from or where they were going so we don’t know where Agent Hanzo is and until we do get more information everyone needs to focus on the King’s Row attack.  I know I’m asking you to forget about Agent Hanzo for now but we still have a job to do.”

“That’s bullshit!” Genji yells.  This is what they must have been arguing about earlier.  Jesse feels his anger rise along with Genji’s.  How can anyone just ignore Hanzo like that? 

“We need to find my brother and I’m not going to do anything besides that.  Rescuing one of our own should always come first.”

“Shimada, the mission always comes first and as a member of the old ‘Watch I expected you to remember that,” says Jack with more force than necessary.  The statement reminds Jesse of one of the reasons he never got along well with the former Strike Commander.  Too quick to sacrifice someone for the sake of the mission.  Jesse feels his anger turn to rage.

“Calm down you two,” yells Winston, cutting off Genji before he has a chance to fire back at Jack.  “We all want Agent Hanzo back but with this attack supposedly occurring tomorrow it takes priority over everything else.  I need the following agents ready to head out as soon as possible: Oxton, Amari Fareeha, Morrison, Zhou, Lindholm, Song, Wilhelm, Ziegler, and Correia dos Santos.  Lena, seeing how this is in your hometown you’ll be taking lead.”

“Understood,” says Lena with a mock salute.  “Everybody, wheels up in three hours.”

Winston dismisses everyone and the mission team leaves to go get ready.  The other agents are too busy talking about the mission and Hanzo to notice Jesse slip out of the room.  He knows what Winston said but he would be damned if he just forgot about Hanzo like that.

Three hours later everyone is still too busy seeing the mission team off to notice the cowboy sneak into the cargo hold of the jump ship.  After stowing away on boats and hyper-trains, this is almost too easy.  Jesse spends the two hour flight finalizing his plan in his head and when they land in London, he sneaks away when he’s sure no one will see him.

Jesse spends the night in a crappy hotel and in the morning buys some inconspicuous looking clothes to wear during recon.  Thanks to his Blackwatch training, no one, not even his friends, recognize him as he scouts out King’s Row.  The old voice of Gabriel floats through his mind, reminding Jesse of what he was taught, as he determines the most likely spots the Talon agents will attack from. 

When he is satisfied with that Jesse heads back to the hotel to change into his chest plate and chaps and get a quick lunch before heading out again.  He knows that Athena has probably figured out that he’s not on the base anymore and has probably told someone now but he doesn’t care.  The former Blackwatch agent came to King’s Row with one mission and he isn’t leaving until it’s done.

The attack happens at 4pm.  Talon agents stream out of all the places Jesse guessed they would and start firing into the air causing a panic.  From his hidden spot in an old building, Jesse watches the Overwatch agents get civilians to safety and fight off the Talon agents.  Jesse stays where he is.  This is not his mission and the others are more than capable of handling it.  He waits and watches until he sees a group of four agents disappear down a side street.  One of them is barking orders into a communication device and Jesse knows that’s the guy he wants to talk to so he follows them. 

They don’t see him until it is too late and he has fired three rounds into three of the agents.  The last one, the one that was giving orders, he stuns with a flashbang and knocks him out with a quick, metal punch.  The sound of Peacekeeper is unmistakable and he knows one of his friends will have heard it and figure out he’s here so Jesse picks up the agent and books it out of there to an abandoned building he found earlier. 

When the Talon agent wakes up he’s tied to a chair in an empty room.  Jesse watches him squirm and panic slightly before stepping out of the shadows to confront him.  When the agent sees Jesse he laughs.  Not the reaction Jesse was expecting but it has been a while since the last time he had done something like this, maybe he wasn’t remembering how it went right.  Unlikely.

“Almost had me worried there,” the Talon agent starts.  “But it’s just Overwatch.  I know this isn’t how you guys operate so what are you trying to pull?”

Jesse glares at the man.  His stare has nothing on Hanzo’s but it was still intense enough to make the guy lose the smug look on his face.

“So, ya know who I am?” asks Jesse.

“Of course I do, we’ve all read your files and your name’s Jesse McCree.  I know all about you Jesse McCree.  Started out running with the Deadlocks.  Abandoned them and joined up with Overwatch when they busted you and your pals.  Became a goody-two shoes agent working for them before everything went up in smoke.  Became a bounty hunter after that embarrassment, am I right?  Also managed to rack up a pretty nice bounty of your own before running back to your new Overwatch, a bounty which I am looking forwards to cashing by the way.”

Jesse says nothing and lets the man continue talking.  Jesse remembers the advice Reyes gave him all those years ago.

_The more they talk the easier it is to find a weak spot and break them, chico._

“Like I said before,” the man continues, “this whole locking-me-in-a-room-with-you-to-get-me-to-talk isn’t Overwatch’s style.  So what are you trying to accomplish because I know you guys don’t have to guts to do what it takes to get me to talk.”

Jesse smiles and crouches in front of the Talon agent.  He found the weak spot.

“Yer right, pendejo, this whole set up here, it ain’t Overwatch’s style.  But ya also got somethin’ thing wrong.  It wasn’t Overwatch that pulled me outta that desert.  It was Blackwatch, an’ this thing is exactly their style.  Also, I ain’t some goody-two-shoes agent.”

The Talon agent pales at Jesse’s words and the cowboy knows it will be easy to get what he wants out of him.

“Now, I only got one question for ya, and ya better pray to God that ya have the answer I want.  Where is Hanzo Shimada?”

To his credit, the agent doesn’t say anything so Jesse stands up and asks his question again, but this time the question is accompanied by a punch to the jaw.

“Fuck you,” the agent spits out along with some drops of blood.  Jesse lands a couple more punches to his face and torso.  He lets his rage that started building ever since Hanzo was taken fuel his blows and in the process breaks the one rule Reyes gave him.

_Don’t mix your emotions with your work._

_Chingate Gabe_ thinks Jesse as he lets all of his anger out.

Jesse takes a step back, breathing hard but mind focused and clear for the first time in days.  The Talon agent only repeats his insult so Jesse starts focusing on fingers and pressure points.  Every couple minutes he repeats his question but the agent refuses to answer, until Jesse breaks the sixth finger.

“Stop!  Stop!  I’ll give you what you want.  There’s a base in Egypt, outside of Cairo.  He’s being held there until Saturday then they’re moving him to I don’t know where.  I’ll tell you exactly where it is if you just stop.”

Jesse steps back and wipes his hands on the cheap shirt he bought this morning.  He takes a cigar out of his back pocket and lights it up while motioning for the man to continue.  The agent spills his guts and tells Jesse everything he wants to know, from location, to routes in and out, to guard rotations.  When he finally finishes talking, the agent seems to realize what he’s done.

“Oh god, they’re going to kill me.”

“No, they ain’t, ‘cause yer already dead.”

A single shot to the head silences the guard for the last time. 

Peacekeeper is barely done smoking when the door to the room is busted down.  Jesse jerks his head and Peacekeeper up and sees Lena and Jack rush in, followed by Angela.  All four of them are silent while the newcomers take in the scene in front of them.  Jesse lowers his gun and breaks the silence.

“I know where Hanzo is.”

Nobody says anything, except for Jack who opens up a line on his communicator.

“We found McCree and we’re heading out now.  Expect us back in three hours.”

Jesse walks out of the room followed by Jack and Lena.  Angela stays where she is, too shocked to move.

“We might wanna get Angie outta here,” says Jesse in between puffs of his cigar.  “The city’s blowing this building up in the morning and I don’t think any of us wanna be in here when that happens.”

Lena pulls Angela out of the room and they meet up with the rest of the mission team outside of the building.  No one says anything as they load up the jump ship and fly back to Gibraltar. 

Winston looks about ready to blow a gasket and go primal when Jesse steps off of the ship and into the hanger.  He knows Winston and Jack are ready to read him the riot act but he just walks right past them and towards his room.  Blood had dried on his skin during the flight and it was starting to itch so he wanted to take a shower before having to sit through any lecture.  Jesse takes his time standing under the hot spray of water.  He thinks about how mad everyone is going to be at him but the thought of seeing Hanzo again makes him not care.

For the first time in five days Jesse puts on his own clothes instead of Hanzo’s or stuff Hanzo has worn.  He no longer needs a safety blanket now that he has a plan to get his boyfriend back.  He also leaves the bottle of whiskey behind as he walks to the conference room where Athena told him everyone was waiting.

The room is a mix of emotions when the cowboy walks through the door.  Jack, Winston, Fareeha and Ana look absolutely livid.  Lena, Jamison, Hana, Zarya, and Lúcio look like they couldn’t believe he pulled something like this off.  Mei, Torbjörn, Reinhardt, Angela, and Satya look like they didn’t want to believe what he did to the agent to get the information.  He couldn’t read Genji, Mako or Zenyatta but he was sure they weren’t happy with him either.  Jesse ignores all of them and walks straight up to the front of the room.

“I know where Hanzo is,” he says without any introduction.  “He’s at a Talon base outside’a Cairo but not for long.  They’re movin’ him in two days.”

A couple people’s eyes widen at the news and others let out a sigh of relief but nobody says anything.  Jack is the first person to explode.

“What the hell McCree?  What were you thinking going off and doing something like that?  You can’t just do that to someone even if he is a Talon agent!”

“Oh really?  ‘Cause ya didn’t seem to have any problems with it back in the old days when Gabe and I were doin’ this almost every goddamn day!”

“This isn’t Blackwatch McCree and you know it!  This is Overwatch and we don’t do that type of shit here.”

“Well ya weren’t doin’ much of anything and I wasn’t gonna sit on my ass and do nothin’!  Not when it comes to Hanzo.”

“It doesn’t matter!” interjected Winston.  “I mean it does, Jack is right when he says you can’t do that, but it doesn’t matter because the UN found out about our involvement in the King’s Row attack and if anyone leaves this base they’ll be arrested immediately.”

“Did’ja not hear me when I said they were movin’ him in two days?”

“We did, Agent McCree, but there is still nothing we can do.  I’m sorry.”

Jesse can’t believe what he was hearing.  They finally had a chance to rescue Hanzo had no one was going to move a muscle.  How dare they call themselves Hanzo’s teammate, his friend.

“Fuck all’a you!” he yells.  All of the anger he had let out earlier comes rushing back and he sees red.

“Jesse we want to help but our hands are tied,” says Lena sympathetically, but Jesse is having none of it.

“I don’t care!  I’m gonna go get Hanzo and ya can either help or stay outta my way.”

Jesse storms out of the room, too angry to look at anyone for another second.  Forget the UN and their bullshit rules.  The cowboy knew that with his bounty he was going to be arrested or shot one day, so he might as well try to do one last good thing before it happens.

A hand on his shoulder stops him and Jesse wheels around to come face to face with Genji. 

“Genji, I don’t care what they said, yer not changin’ my mind.  I’m gonna get Hanzo back come hell or high water.”

“I know.  I’m coming with you.  Hanzo was my brother long before he was your boyfriend and there is nothing I wouldn’t do to get him back.”

Jesse looks away, ashamed that he thought Genji wouldn’t care about Hanzo like he does.  Jesse takes a deep breath and meets the cyborg’s gaze again.

“Alright.  Let’s go bring our boy home.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get out, first i got some writer's block, then the holidays hit, then these last couple weeks of the semester hit me hard and I barely had time to breath, let alone write. But here it is! Enjoy daring rescues, heartfelt reunions, and the subtle implication that actions have consequences.

It takes all of Hanzo’s energy to pick himself up off the floor and get into a sitting position.  Despite their orders, the Talon goons still came into his cell and roughed him up every once in a while.  Most of the time it seemed like they were doing it for fun, but this last time they were grumbling about a failed attack in London.  Hanzo smiled when he heard that; he knew who stopped them.  Unfortunately that left him with, what he guessed was, a fractured wrist, a broken nose, and a probable concussion. 

The archer takes a deep breath and resets his nose.  He can’t smell out of it anymore but that’s probably okay considering how long it has been since he last had a shower.  He’s more worried about his wrist and ribs.  Hanzo’s had plenty of experience resetting bones but he wasn’t perfect at it and so there was only so much he could do.

It’s impossible to tell how long he’s been in the cage due to the utter lack of clocks or windows but Hanzo guesses that it’s getting close to his transfer day.  Activity has picked up on the base and the tension in the air is almost palpable.  Looks like Talon fears The Reaper as much as the Overwatch agents do, if not more so.  All of the other prisoners have been moved out already so Hanzo is the last person in the cells. 

To keep his mind sharp and hopefully come up with some sort of an escape plan, he watches the agents he can see from his cell and memorizes their routines.  Every fifteen minutes a guard passes by his cell.  It’s either the man with the tacky snake tattoo on his neck or the woman with the blonde hair.  In the hallway, a regular patrol walks by every five minutes before walking back twenty three seconds later.  Even with the increased activity these routines remain constant.

Right on schedule one of the patrols outside walks by.  Hanzo counts off twenty three seconds but the guard doesn’t walk by again.  Hanzo sits up a little straighter with a slight grimace.  Before he has time to wonder why the patrol didn’t come back, every alarm on the base starts going off.  The sudden change in volume aggravates Hanzo’s concussion and makes him drop his head into his hands.  When the archer gets his pain under control he stands up shakily and walks to the front of the cell.  The male guard with the tattoo is running down the row of cells towards the exit.  When he passes in front of Hanzo’s cell the archer reaches a hand out, quick as lightning, and grabs the strap of his vest.  With a little more force than necessary Hanzo pulls back and slams the guards head into the bars, knocking him out cold. 

Hanzo slides back down to the ground with exhaustion and catches his breath.  After a couple seconds, he reaches through the bars and grabs the key card off of the guard’s belt and unlocks his cell.  He grabs the guard’s gun, for defense but also to use as a makeshift crutch now that his leg had stopped sparking but is more or less being dragged as dead weight, and sneaks out of the room of cells. 

The archer looks out of the entry way to the hallway and sees chaos.  Talon agents are running around with panicked expressions.  There’s no indication of why the alarms are going off, just a bunch of frantic yelling.  Hanzo’s vision blurs in the one eye he can see out of and he almost falls to the ground but somehow manages to stay upright.  When his vision and the hallway clears, Hanzo hobbles as fast as he can, hopefully towards an exit.  Every time someone from Talon runs by, he ducks into a side room or behind a crate or table.  He has no idea where he’s going and feels like he’s just running around in circles but it’s better than just standing still.  Every time he runs into a Talon goon he can’t hide from he takes them out with a few well-placed rounds from his stolen gun.  His lungs are on fire and every step hurts enough for him to just want to lie on the ground and not get back up but still the archer keeps moving.

Hanzo figures he must be going the right way when he starts to hear gun shots, two types of gun shots actually.  The first sounds like the standard automatic rounds Talon uses, but the second almost brings tears to his eyes.  There’s no sound in the world like the crack of Peacekeeper.

_Jesse.  He’s here.  He came for me._

Hanzo limps faster towards the gun fire completely forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding.  He focuses entirely on the need to see Jesse again, to feel his touch again.  He’s so focused that he doesn’t see that some of the bodies on the floor weren’t taken out by bullets, but by shuriken and deep slashes from a sword.  He doesn’t even notice the squad of Talon agents until it’s too late and they’ve seen him.  There’s a moment of silence at no one moves and instead try to mask their surprise at the sight of each other.  Hanzo recovers faster and manages to shoot down three of the original seven before he is tackled to the ground and the gun is wrenched away.  The impact sets his chest and wrist on fire and knocks all the air from his lungs

“How the hell did you get out?” hisses one of the men, obviously the leader of the squad.  Hanzo recognizes him as the one who told him that he was going to be taken to Reaper and as the one that broke his nose.

“It doesn’t matter now,” continues the man as he roughly picks Hanzo up from the ground.  “You’re going to be my ticket out of here.”

The man holds Hanzo tightly to his chest, one arm around his neck, the other pressing a gun to his head.  The group walks slowly, checking every room and hallway, until they are too far away from the gun fire to hear any of it.  Hanzo struggles against the man’s grip but he just doesn’t have enough strength to break it.  The Talon group rounds a corner into a large room then suddenly stops; the abruptness makes Hanzo wince.  Hanzo looks up to see why they stopped and a weak smile grows on his face.  Standing in the middle of the room is Jesse.  His hat is nowhere to be seen but that dusty old serape is still wrapped around his shoulders and an ever-present cigar is between his teeth.  He’s battered, bruised, and bloody and had a deadly look on his face but it’s the best damn sight Hanzo has ever seen.  When Jesse sees Hanzo his expression softens into relief but quickly morphs into anger when he sees Hanzo’s injuries.

“Let im’ go right now, unless ya want yer deaths t’ be long an’ painful.”  Jesse’s voice is calm and even, like he just asked for his french fries back at dinner and didn’t just threaten to kill four people.

The man holding Hanzo laughs and tightens his arm around Hanzo’s neck, slightly cutting off his air supply and making it harder for the archer to breath.

“Our deaths? Nah, not when there’s four of us and one of you.  The only ones dying here today are you and your friend I got right here if you don’t do what I say.”

Hanzo knows his captor is right.  There are two guns pointed at Jesse and two guns pointed at Jesse.  The gunslinger had taken out more men with his Deadeye but with Hanzo standing right in the middle of the Talon agents, he would get shot too, no question; and without Deadeye, his captor was holding him too tightly for Jesse to get a clean shot.  Despite this, Jesse grins, surprising everyone.

“Who says I’m alone.”

Jesse gives Hanzo the slightest nod and all the time they spent working together makes Hanzo realize he should find some cover, fast.  He becomes dead weight in the distracted Talon agent’s arms and the action surprises him enough to loosen his grip enough for Hanzo to slip free and dive behind some crates.  From the corner of his eye he sees three shuriken appear in the backs of three of the Talon goons at the same time that Jesse fans the hammer.  The four agents drop dead before they have a chance to fire a single shot.

The room is completely still for a couple moments.  The only sounds are Hanzo’s labored breathing, the hiss of Genji’s vents, and the faint crackle of Jesse’s cigar.  Time resumes when Hanzo lets out a pained groan and completely falls flat to the ground.  Jesse and Genji both run and drop to his side.

“Hey there Darlin’, ain’t you a sight for sore eyes,” Jesse says softly as he brushes Hanzo’s hair away from his face. 

Hanzo wants to say something back but everything hurts too much so he settles for giving Jesse a smile and a look he hopes will convey how happy he is to see him.  Jesse seems to get the message because a small smile appears on his face.  Hanzo looks over at his brother and even though he can’t see his face, his posture suggests he is relieved.  And is that his bow slung across Genji’s back?

“Ah yes,” his brother says, following his gaze.  “I found this in another area of the base while looking for you, brother.  Only a few scratches on it, but otherwise in perfect condition.  Your quiver, on the other hand, was completely destroyed.   And sorry McCree, they didn’t have your hat.”

“Eh, it was worth a try.  Just mean’s I’ll have ta get a new one.”

A shout from the hallway makes Jesse and Genji snap to attention.

“Okay honey, we need ta move.  Genji, I’ll carry him, you cover our backs.  Now pumpkin, I don’t want ta hurt ya anymore than ya already are so tell me where it hurts and I’ll try ta avoid those areas or just be extra gentle.”

“Everywhere.” Hanzo manages to grit out.  Anger flashes over Jesse’s face again.

“Well, that makes this a lil’ more difficult, but I ain’t leavin’ here without ya, so sorry in advance.”

Speed and gentleness do not mix well, a fact Hanzo is quickly reminded of.  Jesse does his best not to jostle him too much but the archer can’t help but let out a cry of pain when he’s lifted.  Every step Jesse takes is another jolt of pain straight to every broken bone in his body.  Hanzo tries to ground himself by getting a death drip on Jesse’s serape but he can still see his vision blur and start to black out along the edges.  Around him he can hear Jesse’s yells and the sound of his brother’s weapons slicing through air but all Hanzo can focus on is that smoke-saturated serape.  He doesn’t even realize they’ve exited the base until the cool, nighttime air starts to chill him.  In his weakened state it doesn’t take long for Hanzo to start shivering.

Hanzo somehow manages to stay awake the whole way to the jump ship.  Genji immediately runs to the pilot’s seat and starts the plane up while Jesse fires shot after shot from the open bay doors, trying to keep the Talon agents that followed them at bay.  Hanzo just lies on the couch and tries to stay awake. 

When they’re finally safe in the air, Jesse sets up a biotic field and sits down next to Hanzo’s head.  He wraps the archer in his serape and the combination of that and the biotic field makes Hanzo feel warm for the first time in days.  Genji joins them, taking a seat on the table, after setting the ship on auto pilot.  The three sit there in silence for the first couple hours and just let the biotic field somewhat heal their injuries.

After the third field Hanzo’s chest doesn’t feel like it’s on fire with every breath and his wrist barely hurts anymore.  The rest of his injuries are still severe enough to require a visit to Angela and a few days rest in the med bay.  Jesse moves for the first time since sitting down and brushes Hanzo’s cheek with the back of his knuckles.  Hanzo leans into the touch and tries to absorb the fact that he’s back with the two most important people in his life.

“How did you find me?” Hanzo rasps.  He notices Jesse’s hand pause for the slightest moment before moving again. 

“Jus’ asked the right person very nicely,” is all Jesse offers.  Hanzo looks up and finds his face is impassive.  Genji is suspiciously quiet. 

“Where is the rest of the team?”

Jesse fumbles around for a second before giving some half-asses answer Hanzo sees through immediately.  He obviously isn’t saying something important but Hanzo is too tired to pry.

Jesse changes the subject starts talking again but Hanzo can’t focus on what he’s saying.  Something about events at the Watchpoint, what Reinhardt cooked for dinner last night, where he was going to look for a new hat.  Jesse is obviously trying to distract Hanzo from questioning him further and keep the tone light.  Hanzo lets the cowboy prattle on and uses his smooth voice to lull him into a relaxed, zoned-out state.

The archer is startled back into reality a couple hours later with a soft murmur.  Jesse tells him that they’re back in Gibraltar and about to land.  Sometime during his nap Jesse wrapped the serape tighter and effectively made him into a serape burrito.  With his boyfriend’s help, Hanzo shifts into a sitting position.  Genji, not nearly the pilot Lena is, lands the plane roughly.  The bounce causes Hanzo to wince in pain.  Jesse gently picks him up, bridal style, and carries him off the plane once the bay doors open. 

Standing outside of the plane is the rest of the team.  Hanzo sees their expressions turn from fear into relief.  He catches a flicker of another emotion from Jack, Angela, and Ana but he can’t quite place what it is.  Angela rushes Jesse, Genji, and Hanzo into the med bay before Hanzo gets a chance to ask. 

Jesse refuses to leave Hanzo’s side the whole time, ignoring Lucio’s attempts to treat his wounds in favor of holding onto Hanzo’s hand with an unbreakable grip.  Hanzo is surprised when, for the first time ever, Angela doesn’t fight the cowboy on this.  He’s also notices her slightly tense up during her examination every time Jesse moves and occasionally glance at him nervously.  Between that and Jesse’s earlier evasion, Hanzo is certain something significant happened while he was with Talon, something he’ll have to get answers for later.  But for now he lets the haze of medication and the cold rush of the caduceus system make him fall asleep.

Sometime later Hanzo wakes up and panics at the unfamiliar surroundings until he remembers what happened.  His chest hurts and he goes to rub it buts finds his hand trapped and unable to move.  Carefully, he lifts his head and sees Jesse asleep in a chair, head resting on the bed, and hand wrapped around Hanzo’s.  His battle gear has been removed and fresh, white bandages cover him.  Relieved that Jesse finally allowed someone to take care of him Hanzo lets his eyes wander across the rest of the room.  Sitting cross leg on a bed across the room is Genji.  Multiple tubes and lines are connected to various ports in his body and his face mask is lying on the bed in front of him.  He’s sitting up straight and with closed eyes.  Hanzo would think he is meditating, if it wasn’t for the small amount of drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Hanzo smiles and settles back into the bed.  He knows he should go back to sleep and rest more, every part of his body still hurts, but his mind refuses to shut off.  In the past he would dread moments like this because it was when painful memories of the past would resurface and create new scars on his mind.  But time, and help from his friends, had helped him come to terms with the past and quiet moments like this no longer bother him. 

A shuffling sound and the grip tightening around his hand pull Hanzo out of his thoughts.  He looks down to see Jesse meeting his gaze with sleepy eyes and a small smile. 

“Hey there beautiful,” Jesse says, barely above a whisper.

“Hello yourself.”

Jesse stands up and stretches before helping Hanzo scoot over so he can join him on the bed.  It’s a tight fit but the two of them manage to squeeze together without aggravating any injuries too much.

“How ya feeling sugar?”

“Fine, better now that you are here.”

Hanzo smiles and curls into the warmth that is Jesse.  It’s the middle of the night, and everything is supposed to be quiet but Hanzo knows it’s too quiet, specifically Jesse is too quiet.

“My love, what is wrong?”

The question startles the gunslinger, who looks down at Hanzo before letting out a long sigh.  Hanzo reaches up and cups his jaw with his hand.  Jesse leans into the touch and kisses Hanzo’s palm while coving his hand with his own. They stay like that for a couple seconds until Jesse speaks with a hoarse voice.

“I almost lost ya.  They took ya, hurt ya real bad and I almost lost ya.  I don’t know what I would’ve done if I did lose ya.”

“But you did not.  You and my brother rescued me and brought me back.  In time these wounds will heal and I will have a few new scars but that is, what do you call it, an occupational hazard.”

“You shouldn’t have those scars in the first place, I should’ve found ya faster.”

“Jesse, I am sure you did everything you could.”

“Yea…” Jesse falls silent again and Hanzo can almost see his brain wrestling with something.

“Jesse?”

Jesse’s distant expression softens into another smile.

“It’s nothin’ pumpkin.  Why don’tcha go back to sleep, get some rest.”

“Only if you promise to be here when I wake up.”

“Darlin’ there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

The archer and the cowboy share one more tender kiss before drifting back into a dreamless sleep, safe in the comfort of each other’s arms.

**Author's Note:**

> If you see any mistakes let me know so I can fix them <3  
> Find me on tumblr at cryptidhanzoshimada


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